'Tiger Nageswara Rao' Movie Review

'Tiger Nageswara Rao' Movie Review

Cast: Ravi Teja, Nupur Sanon, Gayatri Bharadwaj, Harish Pereddi, Jisshusen Gupta, Nassar, Renu Desai, Anupam Kher, Murali Sharma and others.

Music: GV Prakash Kumar

Cinematography: Madhie

Producer: Abhishek Agarwal

Writer - Director: Vamsee Krishna Akella

Tiger Nageswara Rao is a big decoit who terrified the people in the Andhra region during the 70s. Now, Mass Maharaj Ravi Teja has arrived with his biopic and Vamsee directed this film. The trailer generated a lot of positive buzz on the movie and the makers released it on a pan-Indian scale. Let us see how the movie turned out to be.

Story:

Set in Stuartpuram, an area known for robberies, Tiger Nageswara Rao (Ravi Teja) is an 8-year-old kid who kills his father in the process of a robbery. He becomes a well-known criminal by the time he grows up. None of the attempts from the police work out as he escapes them every time. They finally catch him after a huge robbery and send him to Madras jail but he escapes from there too. At one point, even the security of the Indian Prime Minister too fears Tiger Nageswara Rao. The chief arrives at Stuartpuram in order to know the truth about Nageswara Rao and finds out some unknown details regarding his part. Why does Nageswara Rao commit these crimes? What does he do with all the money? How far did he go in this path? Answers to all these questions forms the rest of the story.

Analysis:

Compared to other films, making a biopic is quite hard. Whether it is about a great man or a bad person or a sensational public figure, one cannot predict if their life will be as appealing on the screen as it is in real life because most people don't have the drama in life that could drive the movie for nearly three hours. This is why a lot of filmmakers include some masala to make it more spicy and appealing. While taking some cinematic liberty is passable but taking too much freedom in order to give elevate the hero character and glorify it can be dangerous. No one can believe that it is a biopic and movies like 'Sye Raa' fall under this category. 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' too treads on the same line as the director took too many liberties in order to present criminal Nageswara Rao as 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' through huge elevations. Also, he wanted to justify everything the lead character does which makes the movie far from reality. 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' is engaging for quite a while but the exaggerations, justifications and the excessive violence paired up with long duration gives the audience a mixed feeling.

In one episode, the hero does a lot of destruction by slitting people's legs, hands and heads. We can see body parts thrown all over the place and this is quite heavy. Even Boyapati Sreenu's films are being rejected for barbaric scenes like these but the director of 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' decided to convince people with such scenes in a biopic which is quite strange. This scene may please the masses if we look at it separately but it did not sync in this film. There are many such over-the-top scenes in this movie. Having such scenes in a fictional movie is one thing but people expect a bit of reality from biopics. This is the major problem of 'Tiger Nageswara Rao'.

There are ample scenes in 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' that impress you. The intial sequences and the way in which the movie is taken forward for some period is very promising. The reason behind the hero turning into a big criminal and why Stuartpuram became a hub for criminals has been shown interestingly. The hero's character is perfectly established by presenting him as a kid who murdered his own father at the age of 8. The train robbery scene too gives a very good elevation to the hero. The way in which he achieves one impossible thing after another gets the audience hooked to the screens. The grey shades in the hero's character impresses the viewers and the interval portions that showcases how 'Tiger' gets attached to Nageswara Rao's name are wonderfully made. The first half gives a high to the audience but the director failed to maintain the same tempo in the second half.

The director wanted to elevate the hero a lot in the second half with over-the-top scenes and this dragged the film down. The lag in the screenplay too tests the patience of the audience. The graph quickly comes down and the director trying to emphasize that 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' is a good person turned out to be a big minus. All the robberies and murders he committed were justified which did not look good. It can be understood if the director want to show there is some good in Nageswara Rao's heart but projecting him as a great personality is unconvincing. While it is too much that the hero goes to the Prime Minister's residence but giving elevation to the hero by the PM herself is just an icing on the cake. There is no way that we can say that the movie is based on true events. The slow pace, boring scenes and unnecessary elevations makes 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' a tedious watch. The two heroines who are just there to give a glamour touch to the script too turned out to be a minus for this film. Despite having a great base to be a good film, the movie fails to engage after a certain point and 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' falls short of expectations.

Performances:

It is without a doubt one of the best performances of Ravi Teja. It stands as a special film in his career in terms of acting. He makes a very strong impact with his role and we can see an intense performance from Ravi Teja after a long time. Though he does not share any resemblance to the original Tiger Nageswara Rao, he ably convinced everyone with his act. The movie can be watched at least once for his effort and performance.

Nupur Sanon fails to impress in the movie. Neither her acting nor her appearance work out. Gayatri Bharadwaj is decent in her role but it isn't well etched. Nassar did well in an impactful role but his getup was quite artificial. Harish Peredi was good in his role and Jisshusen Gupta was exceptional as the police officer. The actor who stays with Ravi Teja all the time too did his part amazingly. Senior pros like Anupam Kher and Murali Sharma did justice to their characters.

Technicians:

We cannot believe that this movie's music was given by GV Prakash Kumar. His songs are very ordinary and his background score is adequate but has nothing exceptional. Madhie's work is fantastic as he brought the feel of the 70s back and the visuals were well captured. The artwork is equally good but the production values are not that great. While some scenes were canned in a grand manner, there is a lack of consistency throughout the film. Visual effects are a bit disappointing as expected from the trailer. Vamsee who wrote and directed the movie did a lot of hard work. It can be seen on the screen but he failed to show his talent with this biopic. It feels like he was in a dilemma whether to make a realistic cinema or a commercial movie. Had he showcased the same intensity throughout the movie, 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' would have worked wonders.

Verdict: Tiger Nageswara Rao – A Lot of Ups & Downs!

Rating: 2.25/5

Disclaimer : This Review is Just An Opinion of One Person. Please Do Not Judge The Movie Based On This Review And Watch Movie in Theater